Galiano Island Local Trust Committee regular meeting, July 11, 2025

[0:00:01] Voice 7: Let's do the approval of the agenda, please.

[0:00:08] Voice 7: I

[0:00:08] Voice 5: move that we accept the agenda as written.

[0:00:10] Voice 7: Thank you, Priscilla.

[0:00:13] Voice 7: Any dissents?

[0:00:14] Voice 7: Dennis, you okay?

[0:00:16] Voice 7: Staff, I'm having trouble hearing you, Dennis.

[0:00:19] Voice 7: Staff is okay?

[0:00:22] Voice 10: Yes.

[0:00:22] Voice 10: I put my volume up high.

[0:00:24] Voice 10: You can't hear me?

[0:00:25] Voice 7: Much better.

[0:00:26] Voice 7: Better now, yeah.

[0:00:28] Voice 10: Okay.

[0:00:31] Voice 7: Sorry, Dennis?

[0:00:33] Voice 10: I'm having trouble hearing you.

[0:00:35] Voice 7: Oh, do you know what I can do is I can plug in. Let's go for the

[0:00:43] Voice 7: approval of the is that better? Test that better?

[0:00:54] Voice 2: I can hear you

[0:00:55] Voice 2: fine. I

[0:00:56] Voice 7: can do. Then let's do the approval of the minutes of

[0:01:05] Voice 7: February 18. Any dissenting? I

[0:01:10] Voice 5: thought they were excellent. And

[0:01:12] Voice 5: I moved to have them adopted as printed or written. Thank you.

[0:01:16] Voice 7: And

[0:01:16] Voice 10: I second that. Can you hear me or do I have to raise my hand to speak?

[0:01:20] Voice 7: All good.

[0:01:24] Voice 10: Hello?

[0:01:25] Voice 7: Yeah, good.

[0:01:27] Voice 7: Excellent.

[0:01:28] Voice 7: Okay, so that's done. So we'll move on to the application. Maybe we can do some introductions of all of the people that are on the call here. I'm Bert Hall, the chair of this Board of Variants.

[0:01:43] Voice 5: And I'm Priscilla Eubank, a member from Sapirna Island and the Board of Variants.

[0:01:48] Voice 10: And I'm Dennis Perch. I'm also on the Board of Variants from South Bender Island.

[0:01:53] Voice 2: Good morning, everyone. I'm Kim Stockdell, a planner with the Islands Trust, and today the Secretary of the Board of Variants.

[0:02:02] Voice 5: Great. Is the bylaw officer here, Kim?

[0:02:05] Voice 2: He is. So Warren

[0:02:07] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: Dingman is here.

[0:02:08] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: Good morning, Chair, Board. My name is Warren Dingman. I'm the Manager of Compliance and Enforcement for Islands Trust, and I am familiar with this file.

[0:02:18] Voice 5: Great. Good.

[0:02:20] Voice 5: I think, Chair, something that beyond the minutes that we received is there were some good questions asked by Dennis and some follow-up, I thought, very good answers from Kim that somehow gave me a much better understanding of the historical process of this application to the Board of Variants.

[0:02:43] Voice 5: perhaps uh kim or or you might like to um bring those pieces of information for us since they

[0:02:52] Voice 5: weren't covered in the minutes is that i

[0:02:55] Voice 7: just wanted to finish with the introductions because

[0:02:57] Voice 7: we've got uh carrie on the call here the applicant i believe yeah

[0:03:03] Voice 8: so carrie gold is my wife i'm mike

[0:03:06] Voice 8: Elsinga, a 50% property owner. So Carrie helped us with the application. So I've entered the

[0:03:14] Voice 8: meeting under her invitation. So thank you. Yeah.

[0:03:19] Voice 5: And then there's Jennifer, who's the other

[0:03:20] Voice 5: property owner. Okay,

[0:03:22] Voice 7: so Jennifer, my

[0:03:22] Voice 6: name is Jennifer Irvin. I'm the other property owner.

[0:03:25] Voice 6: My dad bought the property in the mid 70s. And I inherited when he died in 2007.

[0:03:31] Voice 7: Thanks, Jennifer. And I see we have another staff member Bruce is on the call as well.

[0:03:36] Voice 1: hi yeah i'm bruce belcher planner with the islands trust and i've done a little bit of work uh on

[0:03:42] Voice 1: this file as well is

[0:03:46] Voice 7: there anybody else on the call we have kathy

[0:03:52] Voice 2: oh there we go i'm catherine

[0:03:56] Voice 6: vote from denman island hello she's our

[0:04:01] Voice 2: wonderful minute taker today is that correct yep yes thank

[0:04:06] Voice 7: you catherine okay i think that's uh everybody that i can see so let's uh go on to the application

[0:04:11] Voice 7: like Priscilla said maybe Kim can you give an overview of anything that has been added or

[0:04:18] Voice 7: changed from some of the comments that have gone back and forth?

[0:04:21] Voice 2: Yeah thank you chair generally

[0:04:23] Voice 2: staff goes over the staff report and just provides a high level overview of that and then I could

[0:04:30] Voice 2: provide some of the email information on the emails that have been sent back and forth in

[0:04:35] Voice 2: last few days if that works with you Char.

[0:04:38] Voice 4: Great thank you.

[0:04:40] Voice 2: So to introduce the staff report the

[0:04:44] Voice 2: purpose we are here today is due to appeal to the Board of Variants for a property on Wise Island

[0:04:51] Voice 2: in order to vary the front and interior side lot lines and also the setback to the natural

[0:04:58] Voice 2: boundary of the sea for an existing deck on the dwelling. The property owners have prepared

[0:05:06] Voice 2: their rationale for their request and also the hardship and I'm just going to highlight a few

[0:05:15] Voice 2: of those points right now. They mentioned that their lot is narrow and irregularly shaped

[0:05:20] Voice 2: presenting significant challenges for compliance with standard setback rules. Their small cabin

[0:05:27] Voice 2: which is approximately 600 square feet has very limited options for outdoor use and without the

[0:05:33] Voice 2: deck we'd be left with no they'd be left with no usable outdoor space and removing the deck would

[0:05:40] Voice 2: also create an unnecessary financial strain. They mentioned that since acquiring the property

[0:05:45] Voice 2: they have respected the natural environment by avoiding the removal of native trees and plants

[0:05:51] Voice 2: and they've not introduced any non-native species or hard landscaping and also maintaining a minimum

[0:05:58] Voice 2: footprint or a minimal footprint. They mentioned that the property is a bit of a bird sanctuary

[0:06:03] Voice 2: and a garyo ecosystem and they've been careful to preserve these values. So this application

[0:06:11] Voice 2: all began with a stop work order from the Capital Regional District. The Islands Trust was notified

[0:06:20] Voice 2: by this. And at that point, the Islands Trust opened an enforcement file. And the options for

[0:06:28] Voice 2: the applicant in terms of the enforcement file was to either comply with the regulations in the

[0:06:35] Voice 2: Galliana Land Use Bylaw, to apply for a development variance permit, or to apply for a board of

[0:06:42] Voice 2: variance. So they have decided to go through the applying for the board of variance. And this is

[0:06:50] Voice 2: just specifically for the construction of an attached deck. Previously in 2005, the previous

[0:06:58] Voice 2: property owner is applied to the Galliano Island Local Trust Committee for a development variance

[0:07:03] Voice 2: permit to legalize the siting of the existing dwelling unit. Staff did visit the property in

[0:07:11] Voice 2: early June, as well as the Board of Variants members. And during the site visit, the Board

[0:07:16] Voice 2: board of areas members requested further information from the applicant including a

[0:07:21] Voice 2: timeline and where the decks were constructed and pictures of those decks i have sent that

[0:07:27] Voice 2: information that requested information to the applicants who are in attendance today

[0:07:31] Voice 2: so in terms of impact to neighboring properties uh staff have provided a um their opinion in the

[0:07:41] Voice 2: the staff report which is that since this is an existing deck and it encroaches onto an undeveloped

[0:07:48] Voice 2: dedicated roadway and is located approximately 40 meters or 130 feet from the nearest dwelling

[0:07:57] Voice 2: unit so staffer of the opinion that the proposed variance would have a minimal impact

[0:08:02] Voice 2: on the adjacent properties. That being said the board of variance did receive one piece of

[0:08:10] Voice 2: correspondence from a neighboring property owner and the board of variants and also the applicant

[0:08:17] Voice 2: have received that letter and the letter states that they are concerned with this application

[0:08:25] Voice 2: as the encroachment of the attached deck have impacted their their comfort of their backyard

[0:08:34] Voice 2: yard and has a negative impact on the enjoyment of walking the government easement and that's the

[0:08:40] Voice 2: road right-of-way as the pathway is now very close to the deck. In terms of the Local Government Act

[0:08:51] Voice 2: and what the Board of Variants is focusing on with this application, the local government states

[0:08:57] Voice 2: that the Board of Variants may order that a minor variance be permitted provided that the board

[0:09:04] Voice 2: finds that there is an undue hardship that would be caused to the applicant if the variance was

[0:09:10] Voice 2: not granted. And the intent of the regulations being varied, those have been included in the

[0:09:19] Voice 2: staff report. I won't go over all of those. I'd imagine the Board of Variants has taken a look

[0:09:23] Voice 2: at that, but those are highlighted for the Board's consideration when they are deliberating.

[0:09:30] Voice 2: As mentioned, we did receive one piece of correspondence in terms of the notification.

[0:09:38] Voice 2: The Board of Variants also requested staff send a referral to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit regarding the signing of the deck close to the dedicated road.

[0:09:48] Voice 2: We did receive a response back from the Ministry, which has been sent to the applicant and Board of Variants applicants.

[0:09:56] Voice 2: applicants states that the ministry has no concerns with the existing structure as long as

[0:10:03] Voice 2: there is no planned expansion in the future and they state that the applicant is to submit

[0:10:08] Voice 2: a application for a setback permit through the ministry as well. So going back to

[0:10:18] Voice 2: the Board of Variances consideration when evaluating this application

[0:10:26] Voice 2: and considering the appeal the board should be satisfied that all the requirements under

[0:10:30] Voice 2: local government have been completed and staff have can confirm that the notification has been

[0:10:37] Voice 2: undertaken the variance would not vary permitted densities or uses the variance would not vary

[0:10:45] Voice 2: residential 10 a rental tenure and the variance would not be in conflict with any covenants

[0:10:52] Voice 2: permits, land contracts, and so forth. And considering the appeal, the board should also

[0:10:58] Voice 2: be satisfied that the proposed variance is of a minor nature. The owner would experience a

[0:11:05] Voice 2: hardship if the appeal is not granted. The variance would not result in an inappropriate

[0:11:11] Voice 2: development of the site, adverse effect to the natural environment, not result in a substantially

[0:11:18] Voice 2: potentially affect the use and enjoyment of the adjacent land and not result in defeating the

[0:11:24] Voice 2: intent of the land use bylaw. So staff have provided a draft motion for the LTC, pardon me,

[0:11:31] Voice 2: the Board of Variants to consider at the end of the staff report. What I'll do is I'll stop there

[0:11:37] Voice 2: and I'll turn it back to the chair. But as mentioned, Warren Dingman, the Manager of Bylaw

[0:11:44] Voice 2: enforcement is here if you'd like further background on the bylaw enforcement file for

[0:11:49] Voice 2: this property thank you thank

[0:11:51] Voice 7: you kim very good recap um i did have a few notes here about uh but

[0:11:57] Voice 7: you covered most of the things uh cabin was from 1970 the deck has been built about eight years ago

[0:12:02] Voice 7: one of the items is the shoreline dip and how close it is to the natural boundary

[0:12:10] Voice 7: as I am a land surveyor I am familiar with natural boundaries and when I was on the site I did take

[0:12:17] Voice 7: a look at it natural boundaries are somewhat subjective and they are ambulatory so over time

[0:12:23] Voice 7: it changes and it's it's I would say that that particular seven meter setback is plus or minus

[0:12:34] Voice 7: several tenths of a meter. So I would say it's less, in my mind, which should be less of an

[0:12:40] Voice 7: issue for us than the setback to the dedicated road. As this application's genesis was through

[0:12:55] Voice 7: through stock work order and the bylaw enforcement, then I think now is the time

[0:12:59] Voice 7: maybe to hear from um mr dingman about his understanding and experience of where we stand

[0:13:06] Voice 7: on it today so

[0:13:10] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: chair our file was opened in 2019 and after the file was opened we began

[0:13:16] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the process of um trying to gain compliance with the land use bylaw uh and so over time

[0:13:30] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: several series of by-law violation notices were issued as we were not able to gain compliance we

[0:13:38] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: were not able to get a removal of the structures or get an application for a variance permit or

[0:13:44] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the application through the board of variance so a series of those fines were issued and some were

[0:13:51] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: were paid um others were disputed and we entered into negotiations with the property owner to get

[0:13:57] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: you know applications submitted new surveys submitted if they had concerns that our

[0:14:04] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: information was incorrect about there being a contravention i actually wrote the first series

[0:14:09] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: of four violation notices in 2020 um and last year another series of violation uh notices were

[0:14:20] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: issued by David Worthington, who has been working on the file since 2022. And after the last

[0:14:28] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: issuing of violation notices, there was a dispute, and then the property owners decided to proceed

[0:14:36] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: with the Board of Barriers process. So Island Trust policy is to seek voluntary compliance,

[0:14:42] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: if possible. If not, we have enforcement tools to try and help us move towards compliance.

[0:14:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: and as we do have an application before the board that is a form of compliance and we're

[0:14:57] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: moving forward to getting this resolved and so that's a positive. I acknowledge that yes this

[0:15:03] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: has been going on for several years and a total of 16 violation notices had to be issued but we're

[0:15:11] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: now at the stage of getting closer to compliance.

[0:15:15] Voice 7: Very good and so just so that we understand this

[0:15:19] Voice 7: as far as coming into compliance then they have two options one is to remove the deck

[0:15:26] Voice 7: which would make that building then comply the other is for us to approve the variance and then

[0:15:32] Voice 7: they would be in compliance and that would solve all of the bylaw issues and the I guess the

[0:15:39] Voice 7: building inspection issues because that would pave the way for them to be able to apply for

[0:15:45] Voice 7: for the building permit to have this structure approved.

[0:15:48] Voice 7: Is that right?

[0:15:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: Yes, Chair.

[0:15:50] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: And so with our last series of violation notices

[0:15:53] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: that were issued and disputed,

[0:15:54] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: if the Board of Variants issues a variance,

[0:15:58] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: those can be canceled as we have compliance,

[0:16:01] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: and then we can notify the CRD that on,

[0:16:04] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: that the variance has been issued

[0:16:06] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: and any building permits they could move forward with.

[0:16:10] Voice 10: Good,

[0:16:11] Voice 7: thank you very much.

[0:16:13] Voice 7: Could

[0:16:13] Voice 10: I ask a question?

[0:16:15] Voice 7: Yes.

[0:16:15] Voice 10: I just want to know the sequence of events here.

[0:16:19] Voice 10: The CRD building permit people are involved and trust is involved.

[0:16:24] Voice 10: And I understand the permit can't be issued until compliance is met with the

[0:16:28] Voice 10: Islands Trust.

[0:16:29] Voice 10: But was there an application for a permit made before any kind of

[0:16:35] Voice 10: enforcement by the trust or after?

[0:16:37] Voice 10: I'm not sure about the sequencing here.

[0:16:41] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: So, Chair, to my knowledge,

[0:16:42] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the CRD was doing enforcement on Wise Island for a number of reasons at the time that the

[0:16:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: previous building inspector advised us of the stop work order, Robert Gutierrez.

[0:16:56] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: And so I'm not actually aware of any building permits being applied for on this particular

[0:17:02] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: property. I do know that a number of, there was enforcement by the CRD and a number of lots on

[0:17:08] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: on Wise Island because of the lack of building permits.

[0:17:12] Voice 7: Thank you.

[0:17:12] Voice 7: I'll just follow up on Dennis's question regarding timeline.

[0:17:16] Voice 7: So it seems to me reading through the literature here that the deck was built around 2017.

[0:17:25] Voice 7: Maybe the applicants can confirm that.

[0:17:28] Voice 7: Is that right?

[0:17:31] Voice 8: Yes.

[0:17:32] Voice 8: The deck was built around 2017 by a local contractor who was actually doing work on

[0:17:38] Voice 8: on the adjacent property lot three right now.

[0:17:40] Voice 8: So we used him as the contractor.

[0:17:45] Voice 8: And so we, yeah.

[0:17:48] Voice 7: And so this was,

[0:17:49] Voice 7: can you confirm that it was done without a permit then?

[0:17:52] Voice 7: A building permit was not applied for?

[0:17:54] Voice 8: I suspect there was not a building permit applied for.

[0:17:57] Voice 8: We left it to our contractor

[0:17:59] Voice 8: to determine whether it was needed.

[0:18:01] Voice 8: And he didn't think for a decade it was needed, I guess.

[0:18:03] Voice 8: I don't know.

[0:18:05] Voice 7: Okay, thank you.

[0:18:06] Voice 7: you um so so it seems to me that 2017 a deck was built 2019 bylaw uh sorry um crd building

[0:18:15] Voice 7: inspection uh was looking at bylaw compliance and discovered um this non-compliance and then

[0:18:23] Voice 7: reported it to islands trust uh when it came into mr dingman's uh territory and then it's uh

[0:18:31] Voice 7: carried on from there until we got to this point then okay good does that make sense to you dennis

[0:18:37] Voice 7: yes

[0:18:38] Voice 10: that's that's fine okay

[0:18:40] Voice 7: can i

[0:18:54] Voice 4: just ask another

[0:18:55] Voice 10: question just as background um

[0:18:59] Voice 10: the applicants uh one of the applicants is actually what the daughter of the original

[0:19:06] Voice 10: owner so they're sharing it now it's not it wasn't sold to somebody else it's actually

[0:19:10] Voice 10: a continuation of the same family who made the original application is that right

[0:19:15] Voice 6: that's correct

[0:19:16] Voice 6: my father did just before he died yeah yeah

[0:19:19] Voice 8: i bought in in 2013 okay

[0:19:25] Voice 10: i just wanted clarity

[0:19:26] Voice 10: as to who actually was applying and who's the owner so it was confusing to me that's okay that's

[0:19:30] Voice 10: fine right burt um

[0:19:41] Voice 7: okay so just um so our job here is to determine whether it's a minor um

[0:19:47] Voice 7: a minor encroachment and whether there's hardship to the the owner and what the

[0:19:57] Voice 7: ramifications would be on granting the variance as far as the overall aspects of the of living

[0:20:05] Voice 7: on the island one of the things that came to my mind as I'm contemplating this Kim perhaps you

[0:20:11] Voice 7: You can correct me if I'm wrong, but Wise Island is part of the Galliano local trust area,

[0:20:19] Voice 7: but it is distinctly different in character from most of Galliano, if I remember our discussion correctly.

[0:20:27] Voice 7: And due to that fact, the local trust committee may be considering having it as a special area of their local trust area.

[0:20:39] Voice 7: Is that sort of what I understood?

[0:20:42] Voice 2: Yeah, yeah, very close.

[0:20:45] Voice 2: The Galliano, it is part of the Galliano Island Local Trust Area.

[0:20:50] Voice 2: And the Galliano Island Local Trust Committee has started a minor project to look at regulations for associated islands.

[0:21:00] Voice 2: So Wise Island would be a part of that.

[0:21:01] Voice 2: Because the zoning placed on these smaller islands and the setbacks are not necessarily adequate for the smaller lots. So this is something the LTC is looking at. And it's just started. So I'd imagine we're hoping the project to be wrapping up in about a year's time.

[0:21:22] Voice 2: And

[0:21:23] Voice 7: I know this is a matter of opinion, but I'm going to ask, do you think it sounds like if they're going down, starting down this road, that they recognize the fact that there are issues with the buildings on Wise Island being able to comply with the overall bylaws and therefore they're going to look at maybe making some modifications. Is that right?

[0:21:48] Voice 7: Actually,

[0:21:49] Voice 2: it all originated more so with structures located either on the foreshore or near the foreshore. So solar panels, decks that perhaps cantilever over the foreshore and so forth. That really what triggered the LTC to take a look at it.

[0:22:08] Voice 2: but as part of this project yes we are going to be looking at dwellings and also other

[0:22:13] Voice 2: accessory structures that are more upland on the property to see if the current

[0:22:17] Voice 2: interior setbacks are adequate thank

[0:22:21] Voice 7: you yeah go ahead kim

[0:22:23] Voice 5: exactly what does setbacks are adequate

[0:22:26] Voice 5: like what does that mean well

[0:22:30] Voice 2: uh right now the setback is six meters uh for the interior side

[0:22:35] Voice 2: lot line and those generally are setbacks for larger lots and because these are smaller lots

[0:22:42] Voice 2: perhaps we'd be reviewing to see if the majority of the dwelling units I mean we haven't started

[0:22:50] Voice 2: the project yet but what we'd be hopefully looking at is to see if most of the dwelling units if they

[0:22:56] Voice 2: comply with that six meters if they're struggling to comply and even the accessory structures as

[0:23:04] Voice 2: well i

[0:23:05] Voice 5: think i'm not understanding what would be the goal so i'm picturing um just let me finish

[0:23:11] Voice 5: here so i'm i'm looking for the thrust of this and what i can certainly see the thing with solar

[0:23:17] Voice 5: panels and stuff um being on the shore i'm not understanding setbacks um on on lots on larger

[0:23:27] Voice 5: galliano s on all of the gulf islands it was very clear when we went on our walk that it is a very

[0:23:33] Voice 5: very narrow north-south island, and that a lot of lots have been crammed into a very small area,

[0:23:40] Voice 5: plus a common road in there. So are you saying you think that the setbacks should be

[0:23:50] Voice 5: smaller or larger?

[0:23:52] Voice 2: I can't say if they will be, but what we're going to be looking at

[0:23:56] Voice 2: is the potential of reducing the interior side lot lines and the potential of reducing

[0:24:00] Voice 2: introducing the front set, front lot line setback, considering these are undeveloped road

[0:24:06] Voice 2: right-of-ways. It's something that the LTC may be considering. I can't say yet if it's something

[0:24:12] Voice 2: that staff will support, but it's something that we're going to be looking at.

[0:24:15] Voice 7: Yeah, and I don't

[0:24:16] Voice 7: think we need to have any sort of confirmation that this is the direction that it'll go, but

[0:24:23] Voice 7: it's interesting to note that the LTC recognizes that it is different than the rest of the

[0:24:31] Voice 7: islands. That's all I wanted to get on the table.

[0:24:33] Voice 2: And because there has been a proliferation in the

[0:24:35] Voice 2: last few years of bylaw enforcement, specifically on Wise Island.

[0:24:40] Voice 7: Okay, very good. I think that's

[0:24:42] Voice 7: all I sort of needed confirmation on. As I contemplate this, I look at the intent of the

[0:24:51] Voice 7: regulations being varied. And I think the applicants have addressed many of them protecting

[0:24:56] Voice 7: the natural environment, limiting visual impact on adjacent properties and the public realm and

[0:25:02] Voice 7: and I'll address that in a second,

[0:25:04] Voice 7: the development pattern in the local area,

[0:25:06] Voice 7: protecting the views, maintaining the rural character.

[0:25:11] Voice 7: I don't think any of these,

[0:25:12] Voice 7: the intents of the regulations have been...

[0:25:18] Voice 7: Compromised.

[0:25:19] Voice 7: Compromised, except for the fact that we do have

[0:25:23] Voice 7: the neighbours' comments that the deck over,

[0:25:34] Voice 7: looking the road is is a concern of theirs so although most of the neighbors don't have an

[0:25:42] Voice 7: issue with it that is the closest neighbor I'm not sure I mean when we were on site I was looking at

[0:25:47] Voice 7: the impact I mean the additional impact of the deck on the adjacent property to the north

[0:25:57] Voice 7: to me didn't seem to didn't seem to make any difference from the fact that the building was

[0:26:04] Voice 7: already that close to the property um however the part that the deck is overlooking the road and

[0:26:09] Voice 7: causing some i can't remember the wording exactly but uh feels like they're walking through the

[0:26:15] Voice 7: backyard or the front yard of the house i mean that holds some uh credence with me

[0:26:23] Voice 7: can

[0:26:24] Voice 10: i comment on that yes

[0:26:25] Voice 7: absolutely i

[0:26:28] Voice 10: was i was reading the comments of the neighbors um letter

[0:26:33] Voice 10: and um one thing they said is that this interferes again you mentioned with their their peaceful

[0:26:39] Voice 10: enjoyment or whatever they lost looking at the site plan uh for the island i don't see that the

[0:26:47] Voice 10: addition that's been done the deck even faces remotely in the direction of their home

[0:26:52] Voice 10: they are so far to the west from the diagram at least from what we observe and these um the

[0:27:00] Voice 10: the addition is actually turned about over 90 degrees

[0:27:03] Voice 10: from the other direction.

[0:27:04] Voice 10: I don't know, did anybody else notice that?

[0:27:07] Voice 10: I mean, that's my observation.

[0:27:09] Voice 10: I

[0:27:09] Voice 7: did also, that's what I was trying to say

[0:27:12] Voice 7: is that the addition of the deck

[0:27:13] Voice 7: doesn't really change the impact

[0:27:15] Voice 7: of where the building is located

[0:27:17] Voice 7: or the enjoyment of their own property.

[0:27:19] Voice 7: It's only the overlooking of the road.

[0:27:22] Voice 7: And

[0:27:22] Voice 8: they also have their own dock.

[0:27:25] Voice 8: I pointed out in our application,

[0:27:27] Voice 8: location lot one who wrote the letter they have their own dock like generally they have complete

[0:27:35] Voice 8: access to their own property so it doesn't affect their access to their lot.

[0:27:42] Voice 10: That was one of my

[0:27:43] Voice 10: questions earlier like way out way in the past is whether this started from you know someone who has

[0:27:49] Voice 10: to use the sort of common dock area that's there and didn't like it but it sounds like the

[0:27:56] Voice 10: the neighbor has a dock that's not part of the common feature there,

[0:27:59] Voice 10: so they don't actually have to enter the roadway to get to their dock.

[0:28:03] Voice 10: Is that right?

[0:28:05] Voice 8: That's correct.

[0:28:06] Voice 8: They're not part of the dock association, so they maintain their own dock.

[0:28:12] Voice 5: I don't think that's a really salient point.

[0:28:15] Voice 5: I'm sure that they walk up and down to visit neighbors.

[0:28:17] Voice 5: I can't imagine staying on Wise Island for very long and staying exactly on your own lot.

[0:28:22] Voice 5: So I don't feel that that carries much water,

[0:28:25] Voice 5: and it is all people's enjoyment and people's assessment of their privacy.

[0:28:30] Voice 5: I will point

[0:28:32] Voice 8: out as well, as far as the amount of time we're actually there,

[0:28:38] Voice 8: I think we have yet to be there this year, either Jennifer or myself.

[0:28:42] Voice 8: So it's not like we're there full time as well.

[0:28:45] Voice 8: So we're just very occasional users.

[0:28:50] Voice 5: So, I think part of this for me is I appreciate that you, I'm sure that you know for the Islands Trust that your emphasis on the Gary Oak, the birds, is one of the main thrusts of the Islands Trust, which is to preserve and protect.

[0:29:13] Voice 5: So that has some interest for me.

[0:29:16] Voice 5: It also has some interest for me.

[0:29:18] Voice 5: If I understand, this isn't your application

[0:29:22] Voice 5: and this process has involved a lot of trust time

[0:29:26] Voice 5: and a lot of trust money.

[0:29:28] Voice 5: And I guess that peeves me a bit.

[0:29:30] Voice 5: I'm sorry, you weren't in compliance.

[0:29:32] Voice 5: I'm sorry, you contested things.

[0:29:34] Voice 5: You must see that you're under the Galliano land use bylaw

[0:29:38] Voice 5: and that those are agree,

[0:29:43] Voice 5: all of those regulations were agreed upon by Galliano residents and this has

[0:29:50] Voice 5: been time-consuming and costly process for the Islands Trust and there's a

[0:30:00] Voice 5: part of me that says you know essentially effort give them what they want but i i also want you to

[0:30:07] Voice 5: know that um while it was wonderful to visit wise island and i realized that the um setbacks and

[0:30:14] Voice 5: stuff it's a tiny island but everybody knows when they buy a tiny island that they're going to be

[0:30:20] Voice 5: cheek to jowl with neighbors and that's going to be something that um has to be dealt with i would

[0:30:24] Voice 5: would think i wouldn't buy in a place like that because i would be concerned about you know whether

[0:30:30] Voice 5: you move or the neighbors on the other side move yeah and that's a constant yeah well

[0:30:35] Voice 6: my father did

[0:30:38] Voice 6: in the mid 70s and it was so different you know well and going

[0:30:41] Voice 5: back just a lady who previously

[0:30:44] Voice 5: bought i do understand i very much having lived in the gulf islands for 50 years there has been

[0:30:50] Voice 5: been a change in who comes like you say you haven't even been here this year i am sure i'm

[0:30:55] Voice 5: sorry i didn't catch your name but the lady whose father built it more than likely was here

[0:30:59] Voice 5: a lot longer so the usage patterns are changing yeah yes i

[0:31:05] Voice 10: will possibly to focus this a bit

[0:31:08] Voice 10: um could you let us know which part of which criterion are you talking about them you know

[0:31:14] Voice 10: we have a set criterion that we're using to assess this could you sort of relate your statements to

[0:31:19] Voice 10: which one it is that's in violation of right

[0:31:22] Voice 7: are you talking are you asking dennis are you asking

[0:31:25] Voice 7: priscilla yes uh

[0:31:28] Voice 5: dennis i'm looking at the whole thing as you were going on about uh you and bert

[0:31:32] Voice 5: were talking about does it really impact the neighbors to the north and the west um those

[0:31:39] Voice 5: were your speculations and i think i was responding to that and i think it

[0:31:44] Voice 5: just i think it is

[0:31:46] Voice 5: I want to point out,

[0:31:47] Voice 7: yeah, Mike, just let Priscilla finish, please.

[0:31:50] Voice 7: Yep. Thank

[0:31:51] Voice 5: you. So what I would like to point out is this, this has been a long process

[0:31:56] Voice 5: involving a lot of administrative work and a lot of people's time and attention.

[0:32:00] Voice 5: And so I'm hoping to gain from something from this. And you are hoping to gain a deck.

[0:32:09] Voice 5: uh and we have regulations to follow uh i didn't i'd forgotten that the crd would be involved in

[0:32:17] Voice 5: this originally uh with through robert gutierrez and um and that certainly is of interest to me so

[0:32:24] Voice 5: uh how come there wasn't compliance how was there why was there disputes on this why is this process

[0:32:30] Voice 5: taken so long

[0:32:30] Voice 7: okay well i'll uh turn that over to mike then mike yeah

[0:32:34] Voice 8: there's two parts to that

[0:32:37] Voice 8: I want to I'll answer the first part like as the concept of the neighbor and does it affect the

[0:32:43] Voice 8: neighbor I will point out in their original development permit application they were

[0:32:49] Voice 8: prohibited from disturbing the Gary Oaks well if you went there you noticed he's clear-cut his

[0:32:55] Voice 8: whole yard so if he hadn't clear-cut his whole yard he wouldn't even have a line of sight to

[0:33:02] Voice 8: our property edge historically. One of the reasons that this has taken so long

[0:33:09] Voice 8: is there's a community association for Wise Island. And at one point,

[0:33:16] Voice 8: the community association said, hey, we're all going to get together and work towards,

[0:33:23] Voice 8: as Kim mentioned, a set of zoning bylaws unique to Wise Island accounting for

[0:33:30] Voice 8: the setbacks and the unique property dimensions. So we were, as part of the community association,

[0:33:41] Voice 8: we all said, okay, things will, let's wait for that process to take place.

[0:33:48] Voice 8: And then it turns out that that process didn't proceed or is taking longer. So we thought, well,

[0:33:53] Voice 8: rather than waiting for the community association to get unique zoning let's just deal with the

[0:34:02] Voice 8: this variant so that we're in compliance so the community association i know wants to lobby

[0:34:10] Voice 8: together towards having unique setback requirements and everything because you know if if you look at

[0:34:18] Voice 8: wise island in general our deck is nowhere near you can't fall off our deck into the water

[0:34:24] Voice 8: the same cannot be said for say lot three which got a variance you can they've got no railings

[0:34:31] Voice 8: you can walk off their deck and fall down a cliff so you know what we're asking for

[0:34:38] Voice 8: i would say is is minimal and and within the spirit of the community association or not

[0:34:47] Voice 8: community station the islands trusts mandates or my wife and i were talking this morning like

[0:34:53] Voice 8: many of the other possible places where you could eat uh would be under a tree where you

[0:34:59] Voice 8: get sap and stuff and we don't want to cut down trees in order to place a deck somewhere

[0:35:04] Voice 8: so you know this particular location is minimal disturbance to the natural uh landscape of the

[0:35:11] Voice 8: the property ask a question mr

[0:35:14] Voice 10: dingman um mr dingman um is this the we were treating this

[0:35:19] Voice 10: as an isolated case because we're a board of variants and we don't look at anything else

[0:35:23] Voice 10: um are there several violations all over the island this is just one of them or is this a

[0:35:28] Voice 10: special case um

[0:35:31] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: no there there have been over the past five years especially there's been

[0:35:36] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: a number of complaints about properties on Wise Island

[0:35:41] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: and these actually, it goes back even further if you go back to

[0:35:45] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: lack of building permits on the island and one reason why the CRD was

[0:35:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: doing enforcement. So there have been island, since I have worked at

[0:35:52] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: Islands Trust since 2013, there have been regular

[0:35:56] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: communications between residents on the island

[0:36:00] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: about one, just the lack of building permits. Now building permits must be

[0:36:04] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: be taken care of by the CRD and eventually the CRD has placed a large number of notices on title

[0:36:11] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: for Wise Island because just of the lack of building permits and this trust has opened files

[0:36:18] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: on a regular basis for I think primarily for the structures that are too close to the sea

[0:36:26] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: some of them are decks which are more of a concern some of them are smaller structures like

[0:36:31] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: like the latest proliferation of solar panels on the island that were placed too far out

[0:36:39] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: and within the setback for the natural boundary of the sea, where they're not permitted.

[0:36:46] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: So we have had more than one complaint for Wise Island in the past 10 years.

[0:36:51] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: We do have more than one complaint for the island, and those issues still need to be resolved.

[0:36:57] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: That's one reason why the Local Trust Committee is considering what regulations need to apply to Wise Island, as opposed to having those on Wise Island comply with all of the regulations that those on Galliano, a much larger island, must comply with.

[0:37:16] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: um so the contraventions on this lot are not as serious as contraventions on other lots on wise

[0:37:28] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: island but the contraventions still exist and so we've asked for compliance and that's why we're

[0:37:36] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: here with the application good

[0:37:38] Voice 10: thanks thank you that's that's the explanation i was looking for

[0:37:41] Voice 10: Yeah. Can

[0:37:43] Voice 5: I ask another question of Mr. Ding?

[0:37:45] Voice 5: Yeah,

[0:37:45] Voice 7: just I see Mike's hand is up under Carrie's name. Are you waiting to speak again? Or? Okay.

[0:37:53] Voice 7: Thank you. Go ahead, Priscilla.

[0:37:57] Voice 5: So if, if we agree or don't agree, it means either the deck comes off, or and then if we agree,

[0:38:07] Voice 5: it means as it is exactly the way it is right now, that with no additions and no decorative

[0:38:16] Voice 5: features and no enlargements, that this is the end of the story for this particular lot.

[0:38:23] Voice 5: Is that correct?

[0:38:24] Voice 7: Well, I'll just, my understanding is that this would allow them to apply for the building

[0:38:31] Voice 7: permit that they should have applied for when they initially built the deck.

[0:38:36] Voice 7: And then once they apply for that, then there would be a building inspection and then they would be in compliance after it has passed the building inspection.

[0:38:43] Voice 7: Is that right?

[0:38:44] Voice 7: Maybe Kim or Warren can answer that.

[0:38:47] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: That's essentially it, Chair.

[0:38:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: I mean, this, I don't know how many, you know, I don't want to make this more complicated, but we're dealing with a deck, an attachment to a house.

[0:38:58] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: We haven't investigated the entire property and we're not trying to deal with other contraventions that may exist on any particular property.

[0:39:06] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: This was the deck and its encroachments into these different setback areas.

[0:39:12] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: It's not, you know, I can't say what's going to happen in the future, that there may or may not be other issues on the lot.

[0:39:20] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: This enforcement action that I dealt with was about the deck.

[0:39:24] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: uh

[0:39:25] Voice 7: but if if they were granted the variance then they would be able to apply for the building

[0:39:30] Voice 7: permit then they would get what a final inspection on that deck maybe have to do some remedial work

[0:39:36] Voice 7: to make sure that it's meeting code and what have you and then everything is uh is up to snuff as

[0:39:41] Voice 7: far as you're concerned on this particular matter

[0:39:43] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: correct okay

[0:39:45] Voice 2: and chair if i may um if the board of

[0:39:49] Voice 2: variance would to support uh this variance it's legalizing the sighting as is if there's any

[0:39:57] Voice 2: further encroachment if they make it even slightly larger it's again then not in compliance and they

[0:40:04] Voice 2: would have to come back for a request for a variance or to remove that portion and

[0:40:12] Voice 4: if they

[0:40:13] Voice 5: ask for a variance to on the other side on the c word side to increase or to do anything of that

[0:40:20] Voice 5: that nature or the next owner does um it would have to come to the board of variance again is

[0:40:27] Voice 5: that right the

[0:40:28] Voice 2: board of variance or the local trust

[0:40:30] Voice 5: committee for a development variance permit

[0:40:33] Voice 5: okay because on the other side they have maxed out on that also right

[0:40:39] Voice 2: the other side i believe

[0:40:42] Voice 2: that they haven't maxed out no i think there is room i'm just going to take a look at the site

[0:40:47] Voice 2: plan they wouldn't be going to see in terms of the interior lot if they would comply with that

[0:40:59] Voice 2: no they would be fine if they were to extend on the other side they look they

[0:41:04] Voice 7: would be able to

[0:41:05] Voice 7: because i plotted the building envelope over the survey plan here and they looks like they've got

[0:41:10] Voice 7: about um maybe four meters or so that they can extend on the other side towards trincomalee

[0:41:18] Voice 7: thank

[0:41:20] Voice 5: you um

[0:41:23] Voice 7: back to i mean our decision is going to be based on hardship and whether this is a

[0:41:28] Voice 7: minor um variance so um is there i mean the staff report does offer um that we should be that they

[0:41:39] Voice 7: have the staff have noted that the variance would not result in appropriate development

[0:41:44] Voice 7: inappropriate development the variance wouldn't result in adverse effect to the natural environment

[0:41:49] Voice 7: the variance would not result in a substantial effect or enjoyment of the adjacent land and

[0:41:54] Voice 7: that's up for discussion and the variance would not result in defeating the intent of the bylaw

[0:41:59] Voice 7: which i think is important as well so um is this minor and is there a hardship and how much of an

[0:42:05] Voice 7: impact does um granting a variance to the deck which faces in a um an easterly direction affect

[0:42:14] Voice 7: affect a property that's to the north of this site um so it's the enjoyment of walking on the public

[0:42:20] Voice 7: road the trail that's there and um and I think those are the sort of salient issues that we need

[0:42:28] Voice 7: to uh resolve so Dennis please go ahead um

[0:42:34] Voice 10: do you I wonder if the um the applicants could could uh

[0:42:40] Voice 10: And talk to that a bit, because when we were there, we observed that there are some new doors and windows placed on that side to access the deck.

[0:42:50] Voice 10: And I'm not sure what the impact would be if the deck was removed.

[0:42:58] Voice 7: So Mike or Jennifer?

[0:43:00] Voice 8: There's no new windows on that side.

[0:43:04] Voice 8: Any windows that are there were there.

[0:43:07] Voice 8: There are doors.

[0:43:08] Voice 8: So, yes, there's a door that accesses the deck, both from the kitchen and from the one bedroom.

[0:43:20] Voice 7: So taking the deck off to restore it to the prior condition would result in those doors leading to nowhere and perhaps having to remove the doors and putting windows in their place or something like that?

[0:43:35] Voice 8: Yeah.

[0:43:36] Voice 10: Does

[0:43:38] Voice 7: that answer your question, Dennis?

[0:43:41] Voice 10: Yeah, that's fine. I just

[0:43:42] Voice 10: love to hear his response.

[0:43:45] Voice 2: Chair Hull, I just wanted to mention there is an attendee with their hand up.

[0:43:49] Voice 2: You do have the, the Board of Errants does have the authority to listen to that attendee, if you wish.

[0:43:56] Voice 7: Okay, it's actually not showing up on my list of attendees.

[0:44:00] Voice 7: But go ahead, whoever it is.

[0:44:03] Voice 2: Now, Emily.

[0:44:04] Voice 7: Now I see them. Okay, this is Mark.

[0:44:06] Voice 7: So, Mark, welcome to the meeting.

[0:44:11] Voice 7: I didn't recognize you earlier because I didn't see you on my screen here.

[0:44:16] Voice 7: But, Mark, I understand you're the adjacent owner to the north.

[0:44:20] Voice 7: I

[0:44:21] Voice 9: am. Can you hear me?

[0:44:21] Voice 7: I can hear you fine. Thanks. Go ahead, please.

[0:44:24] Voice 9: OK, so just a couple of things.

[0:44:27] Voice 9: I guess when we built our property or when we built our house, we did not remove Gary Oaks.

[0:44:36] Voice 9: the the house we did have to remove a couple trees that where the house was or where we were

[0:44:45] Voice 9: building the new house but regardless uh we haven't done anything close to the property lawn

[0:44:53] Voice 9: i and my bigger problem is that should be relatively immaterial is that we did this

[0:45:00] Voice 9: about 15 years ago we did exactly this we put in a variance we were promised exactly what you're

[0:45:07] Voice 9: saying now that nothing more could be done or they put in a variance we we actually helped

[0:45:16] Voice 9: and with bill we encouraged the the variance uh but the agreement with him and island trust

[0:45:27] Voice 9: was that nothing more could be done.

[0:45:31] Voice 9: They could not encroach any more on our property.

[0:45:35] Voice 9: They could not add anything to the house.

[0:45:40] Voice 9: And that was done and signed by you,

[0:45:44] Voice 9: by the owners and encouraged by us.

[0:45:48] Voice 8: I wasn't an owner at the time,

[0:45:51] Voice 8: so I certainly didn't sign.

[0:45:53] Voice 7: There's

[0:45:54] Voice 8: no paperwork for that.

[0:45:55] Voice 7: I don't want to get into a debate about this.

[0:45:57] Voice 7: Let's let Mark finish his comments.

[0:45:59] Voice 7: Then I'd like to, well, go ahead, finish your comments here, Mark,

[0:46:04] Voice 7: and then we'll move on.

[0:46:05] Voice 7: So

[0:46:05] Voice 9: anyway, we've dealt with the Island Trust.

[0:46:09] Voice 9: Promises were made.

[0:46:11] Voice 9: We encouraged the variance.

[0:46:15] Voice 9: And whether it's, I mean, using the argument, well, I wasn't an owner,

[0:46:20] Voice 9: does that mean when they sell, the next owners can do whatever they want?

[0:46:25] Voice 9: At some point, and I thought it was 15 years ago, a line was drawn.

[0:46:33] Voice 9: This is what's acceptable.

[0:46:35] Voice 9: And it was done, in our view, it was done long before the Island Trust.

[0:46:40] Voice 9: It was done before anybody was getting permits out here.

[0:46:43] Voice 9: And we had no intention of trying to make Bill rip down his house or change anything.

[0:46:49] Voice 9: It was like, great, leave it just like it is.

[0:46:52] Voice 9: That's the agreement.

[0:46:53] Voice 9: Leave it just like it is.

[0:46:55] Voice 9: okay new owners come in they decide to add on a deck add doors whether those doors become

[0:47:04] Voice 9: irrelevant if they have to take down their deck to me is not an issue at the time i mean the

[0:47:13] Voice 9: building department was out here while it was being constructed uh and you know so i guess

[0:47:22] Voice 9: bottom line is when the island trust and us make an agreement like somebody proposed earlier was

[0:47:31] Voice 9: stating earlier that if you allow this no further embellishments no further anything will be allowed

[0:47:41] Voice 9: well that ship sailed and if if it's just going to be able to be changed every 10 or 15 years

[0:47:51] Voice 9: than I guess, how relevant are you guys? And I'd like you to be more relevant. I'd like you to,

[0:47:59] Voice 9: to stay, you know, to, okay, this is the rule. We've made an agreement and we're going to live

[0:48:06] Voice 9: up to that agreement. And homeowners like me can count on that going forward. If you just

[0:48:13] Voice 9: change the rules uh because there's a new owner uh that doesn't seem quite right to us thank you

[0:48:23] Voice 7: mark i'm going to um i'm going to let kim answer that because she's already given us some ideas

[0:48:31] Voice 7: about the relevance of previous variances granted and i just want to add that um boards of variance

[0:48:42] Voice 7: variants do change over time. And I think that's important to your note, or to your

[0:48:49] Voice 7: concern there, Mark, is that a previous board of variants would have granted this,

[0:48:54] Voice 7: the variants you're speaking of, and in three years from now, there will likely be a different

[0:48:59] Voice 7: board of variants. So it's always going to be contingent on the present board to make decisions.

[0:49:05] Voice 7: But Kim, go ahead and explain the process.

[0:49:08] Voice 2: Thank you, Chair. So the previous development

[0:49:10] Voice 2: variance permit was actually issued by the Galliano Island Local Trust Committee at that time.

[0:49:16] Voice 2: There are no agreements decided between a neighbor or the property owner. The agreement, if you will,

[0:49:24] Voice 2: is an issued permit. It's either issued or it is not. And an issued development variance permit

[0:49:31] Voice 2: would legalize the structure at that time as stated in the permit. So this permit also states

[0:49:38] Voice 2: that it does not remove any obligation on the part of the permittee so the property owner

[0:49:46] Voice 2: to comply with all the other regulations of the land use bylaw or attain any other approvals so

[0:49:52] Voice 2: basically what it's saying is yes it legalizes that structure in 2005 as they apply to stated

[0:49:58] Voice 2: in the variance permit but if there's any further changes they still need to comply with the land

[0:50:04] Voice 2: use bylaw and if they don't

[0:50:07] Voice 7: comply then they can then they need to apply for a further variance

[0:50:11] Voice 2: or remove that uh structure or dwelling that does not currently comply with the land use bylaw

[0:50:16] Voice 2: okay

[0:50:17] Voice 9: so any agreement we make today really has no teeth as it could be changed in a year

[0:50:26] Voice 7: well mark

[0:50:27] Voice 7: Mark, there's no conditions that are attached to variance that if we granted a variance, there's no conditions attached to it.

[0:50:38] Voice 7: Like Kim said, it simply says that the building is now in compliance, which is what Mr. Dingman is looking for as well.

[0:50:50] Voice 7: He's looking to bring this building on lot two into compliance with the land use bylaws.

[0:50:57] Voice 7: And there's two ways of doing that.

[0:50:59] Voice 7: One is to remove the deck

[0:51:00] Voice 7: and the other is to get a variance for the deck

[0:51:04] Voice 7: as it stands today.

[0:51:05] Voice 7: Any changes to that would require a further variance

[0:51:08] Voice 7: in another application.

[0:51:10] Voice 7: Applications aren't cheap,

[0:51:11] Voice 7: but maybe it's cheaper than removing the deck.

[0:51:18] Voice 7: Anyway, we also don't weigh our decisions

[0:51:24] Voice 7: based on the cost of,

[0:51:25] Voice 7: of our cost does not come into the equation of hardship.

[0:51:30] Voice 7: So again, we're back to, is this a minor variance

[0:51:34] Voice 7: and is it would not granting the variance

[0:51:41] Voice 7: create a hardship for the applicant?

[0:51:44] Voice 7: So I'll go back to the board, Dennis and Priscilla.

[0:51:51] Voice 7: What are your thoughts on those two matters?

[0:51:53] Voice 7: Well,

[0:51:56] Voice 10: I'll speak first. I'm a little confused. I have to get something sorted out first.

[0:52:02] Voice 10: If we were to approve this, does that mean that the applicant will then get a permit from CRD,

[0:52:13] Voice 10: will apply, or will we be approving something that will sit as it is and there's going to be

[0:52:20] Voice 10: no permit issues maybe mr dingman could explain that so

[0:52:29] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: chair um the board is here to consider

[0:52:33] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: a variance to the galliano island land use bylaw the issue of regional district and in this case

[0:52:41] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: capital regional district building permits is a separate is a separate matter whether or not

[0:52:51] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: it's entirely up to the property owners

[0:52:53] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: for them to try and resolve

[0:52:55] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: their CRD

[0:52:57] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: bylaw file

[0:53:00] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: after the if they

[0:53:01] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: get this permit

[0:53:02] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: if

[0:53:04] Voice 7: they get the variance you mean

[0:53:05] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: yes if they get

[0:53:06] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the variance permit

[0:53:07] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: so

[0:53:08] Voice 10: there wouldn't be any further

[0:53:10] Voice 10: interaction between the trust

[0:53:12] Voice 10: and the CRD if this is granted

[0:53:14] Voice 10: like it doesn't perpetuate it it's over

[0:53:17] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: no well

[0:53:19] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the islands trust side

[0:53:21] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: of it is resolved the crd the property owners need to resolve the crd by law enforcement issue

[0:53:30] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the lack of the there was a stop work order because there was work done without a permit

[0:53:34] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: so they they have to try and get a variance from either the ltc or the bov in order to resolve

[0:53:42] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: their crd issue which they built this addition to this house without a building permit and so

[0:53:49] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: So this does not resolve all their issues?

[0:53:51] Voice 7: The CRD cannot issue a building permit if it's not complying with the bylaws,

[0:53:58] Voice 7: and that's why it goes to the trust.

[0:53:59] Voice 7: I

[0:54:00] Voice 10: guess my question was, does it kick back over to the trust

[0:54:04] Voice 10: because they're in that situation again?

[0:54:06] Voice 10: Or is it, you know, I think you're doing the enforcement.

[0:54:10] Voice 10: It's a CRD issue and it's a trust issue.

[0:54:14] Voice 10: If they don't get a permit and we approve it,

[0:54:17] Voice 10: but it doesn't mean that you're going to be asked to enforce again, does it?

[0:54:23] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: If the Board of Variants issues a permit today,

[0:54:26] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: the honest trust involvement or honest trust bylaw enforcement involvement

[0:54:30] Manager of Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement: in this is over.

[0:54:31] Voice 10: Okay, thank you. That's the term.

[0:54:34] Voice 7: So, Dennis, do you have any comments about the two issues,

[0:54:39] Voice 7: whether this is a minor variance being requested

[0:54:42] Voice 7: and whether it would be a hardship if we didn't grant the variance?

[0:54:49] Voice 10: This is a tough one. I think it would be a hardship. Well, first of all, a minor variance. I think it's a very minor variance, first of all. I have to see from our site visit that it does not seem to really, to my point of view, does not have a great impact on others.

[0:55:14] Voice 10: I just don't see that physically. I don't see it. I think, you know, maybe there's some, I don't know, animosity involved here. I would have to say, first of all, that I say it's very minor. Would it be a hardship?

[0:55:29] Voice 10: hardship. I would say also, I mean, if you want to go back, whether they should have done this,

[0:55:35] Voice 10: and whether they shouldn't have done that, that's another issue. Perhaps they should not have done

[0:55:39] Voice 10: what they've done. But just looking at the issue today, is it a hardship? Well, definitely. I mean,

[0:55:46] Voice 10: they're gonna have to restructure their home a little bit. And also they lose their deck.

[0:55:51] Voice 10: And they don't have one on the other side, as far as I know, so they would have no deck. And

[0:55:55] Voice 10: And so, and I have to agree with some of the other statements made about the, you know, the shoreline being variable.

[0:56:03] Voice 10: I don't see the distances being a big issue right here.

[0:56:06] Voice 10: It's not as though this is a high traffic area and it's right, you know, in some urban area.

[0:56:13] Voice 10: There's exceptions being made on this island.

[0:56:14] Voice 10: And so this is just one of them.

[0:56:16] Voice 10: So I would have to say, first of all, my view is it's a minor variance and it would be a hardship.

[0:56:24] Voice 7: Thank you.

[0:56:25] Voice 7: Thank you. Yeah,

[0:56:26] Voice 7: that's very good. Priscilla, can I get your take on whether it's minor and whether there's hardship?

[0:56:34] Voice 7: I

[0:56:35] Voice 5: know, Bert, I drive you crazy with my broader oversight and you try to keep it exactly where our noses are supposed to be.

[0:56:43] Voice 5: But I think this discussion points out some, as Dennis said, this is more complex.

[0:56:50] Voice 5: if you reduce it to its smallest pieces uh then um then you can you know you can easily agree

[0:57:00] Voice 5: or not agree i don't think it's a hardship in any way shape or form um but i do i do see that

[0:57:08] Voice 5: it is relatively minor and i think a part of the preserve and protect mandate uh because we do need

[0:57:17] Voice 5: to look at the larger governing principles is that um the less the less development and the

[0:57:26] Voice 5: less invasive uh the better it is so and so thus my questions which are is this it is it um

[0:57:38] Voice 5: is there going to be a way to get around this dennis did notice those windows that were there

[0:57:42] Voice 5: And I think that was a viable question that he asked, how much further can this go? And if we say, yes, it's the end of the matter, they do need to go to CRD, but it's the end of the trust input in this. And that concerns me that it's going to be inch by inch by inch.

[0:58:04] Voice 5: um but you're right and your concentration on these two issues of hardship um and how minor

[0:58:16] Voice 5: or major is it are um are what we are asked to decide on i am not comfortable with the situation

[0:58:24] Voice 5: and i will state that very clearly i don't like the amount of effort and time that the trust has

[0:58:31] Voice 5: had to do this and i am not sure uh good intent is hard to measure um and it's not what we're

[0:58:39] Voice 5: being asked to judge on but it's what really makes the trust either function or not function

[0:58:45] Voice 5: and uh and i'm concerned about that i think the neighbor has some interesting

[0:58:51] Voice 5: um it's a very interesting consideration what when you when uh as regulations change

[0:59:00] Voice 5: change um it does affect neighbors a lot and they they buy land or make their choices according to

[0:59:07] Voice 5: what was in place at the time and when you change that for one person you change experience of the

[0:59:12] Voice 5: other people so i am i'm not pleased to be hedged into this corner by taking small deliberate pieces

[0:59:20] Voice 5: out of what's a very much broader consideration and i and i want to thank all of the people who

[0:59:29] Voice 5: have been involved, their time and consideration of this matter. That starts with you and I and

[0:59:35] Voice 5: Dennis and Kim and Mr. Dingman. People have put a lot of effort into thinking about this and trying

[0:59:43] Voice 5: to make regulations work that help all of us. That's my

[0:59:51] Voice 7: view on it. Thank you, Priscilla. Well,

[0:59:53] Voice 7: Well, okay.

[1:00:00] Voice 7: i will distill my comments down to i think i believe this is minor it has a very small impact

[1:00:08] Voice 7: on um on anybody else and the there's already um some major considerations about the location

[1:00:25] Voice 7: of the building and how it fits onto the property.

[1:00:30] Voice 7: I think the other thing that I'm considering here

[1:00:35] Voice 7: is the fact that this deck was built by a contractor.

[1:00:41] Voice 7: And I think, you know, the contractor may have been at fault

[1:00:48] Voice 7: for not having guided this through an application process.

[1:00:53] Voice 7: process. It looked like it was fairly well built, so I don't have a concern about that. I mean,

[1:00:58] Voice 7: we did, you know, walk and look at the beams and how it was all put together. I do appreciate

[1:01:05] Voice 7: the preserve and protect parts of our mandate as representatives of the Islands Trust,

[1:01:12] Voice 7: and the fact that I think the location of the deck, the considerations of the location of the

[1:01:22] Voice 7: deck were that they were preserving and protecting the environment and the character of the of the

[1:01:27] Voice 7: island or trying to do that and lastly the building envelope on that lot similarly to many of the lots

[1:01:35] Voice 7: on wise island is very tight and so in order to be able to put a building onto any of these lots

[1:01:46] Voice 7: it takes some creativity and it does cause a hardship to try to meet all of the setback

[1:01:51] Voice 7: requirements um by bylaw uh in trying to place buildings on the property so my um sort of

[1:02:00] Voice 7: tendency is to go to minor uh that it is a minor um amendment request and that it would cause

[1:02:08] Voice 7: hardship to um make to um ask the applicants not to have the deck there because i i'm trying to

[1:02:19] Voice 7: temper that with you know we could ask the deck to be removed and there would be a cost involved

[1:02:24] Voice 7: and i don't we aren't considering the cost there but i'm considering that if the deck weren't there

[1:02:29] Voice 7: where would it go and what impact would it have on uh the preserve and protect and the environment

[1:02:34] Voice 7: and uh and what have you so i'm leaning towards um i'm leaning towards allowing this variance and

[1:02:43] Voice 7: to approving it. It sounded like Dennis was on side with that and with some reservations. I

[1:02:49] Voice 7: think, Priscilla, I think you were maybe not on side with that.

[1:02:55] Voice 5: I am, as I'm saying, I am reluctant

[1:02:59] Voice 5: and I wish there was some mechanism by which we could say, yes, you can have your deck

[1:03:04] Voice 5: and that's the end of it. And you better, you know, you better be thankful for what you've

[1:03:09] Voice 5: gotten and comply when and i the hardship the one i think your reasoning is sound i think that

[1:03:19] Voice 5: um i know that times have changed in terms of requirements and that a construction you know

[1:03:24] Voice 5: a builder would say oh yeah you can do that you can put it you can put a deck on um that the one

[1:03:29] Voice 5: part that i would like to say is when you buy a lot you accept the restrictions that are on that

[1:03:35] Voice 5: And I don't think that being creative with the actual legal constrictions of the lot that you buy is commendable.

[1:03:45] Voice 5: I think it's difficult and within the ramifications of what you paid for and the legal descriptions of the lot that you need to comply with that or buy another lot or don't buy a lot.

[1:03:58] Voice 5: and uh i can't

[1:04:01] Voice 7: disagree with you on those points um and i i do appreciate what you've mentioned

[1:04:08] Voice 7: about the you know the the trouble and costs that have been involved in trying to resolve this and i

[1:04:14] Voice 7: really feel for mr dingman and i'm trying to sort of consider uh you know what the best way is to

[1:04:20] Voice 7: help move this off of the island's trust plate as part of my decision making um and

[1:04:27] Voice 5: i also have

[1:04:27] Voice 5: consideration for the neighbor while we weren't we weren't a part of the evolvingness of that um

[1:04:34] Voice 5: i am sure that there's been some disappointments and considerations and disagreements

[1:04:39] Voice 5: goodwill on such a tiny island um is necessary to work both ways and and i thank you so yes

[1:04:50] Voice 5: i will go ahead with this and those are my reluctant um statements and thank you for

[1:04:55] Voice 5: listening to them okay

[1:04:56] Voice 7: thanks uh kim just on the point of i i know with a variance uh if if we um

[1:05:02] Voice 7: if we do adopt or have this motion approved um the draft motion uh that there's no um

[1:05:09] Voice 7: conditions attached to it but i'm just wondering what the nature of the minutes of this meeting

[1:05:13] Voice 7: would hold would there be um discussion points about what we use to make our decision

[1:05:20] Voice 7: decision in the minutes and would those be available if the next if there was something

[1:05:25] Voice 7: else that came up with a future board that they'd be able to refer to that what

[1:05:28] Voice 2: a great comment

[1:05:30] Voice 2: yep absolutely so that generally the high level points of how a board of variance made their

[1:05:36] Voice 2: decision would be included in the in the minutes so that would be something to reference in the

[1:05:42] Voice 2: the future, if required.

[1:05:45] Voice 5: Okay, my comments, my reluctance on going forwards with this,

[1:05:51] Voice 5: that would be recorded. And

[1:05:53] Voice 2: you can, yeah, you can state right now to Kathy, or you can say

[1:05:56] Voice 2: for the minutes, I would like that my reluctance to the just so you make that specifically clear,

[1:06:02] Voice 2: and then that will be highlighted in the minutes. And, and, and the

[1:06:05] Voice 5: reason why I want that is not

[1:06:07] Voice 5: not because I think my opinion has personal meaning for me,

[1:06:11] Voice 5: but exactly what I think BIRD is getting to.

[1:06:14] Voice 5: Should this reappear and should this come under consideration again,

[1:06:19] Voice 5: then Dennis didn't seem like he was really keen on this

[1:06:24] Voice 5: to be a straightforward thing.

[1:06:26] Voice 5: I realize I'm sorry I'm speaking for you, Dennis.

[1:06:29] Voice 5: I don't mean that.

[1:06:29] Voice 5: I am not either.

[1:06:31] Voice 5: I have grave concern.

[1:06:35] Voice 5: Thank you.

[1:06:37] Voice 7: Thank you for that.

[1:06:38] Voice 7: Okay, then I'm going to try to wrap this up.

[1:06:41] Voice 7: I will say that I want to thank Mr. Dingman for attending

[1:06:45] Voice 7: because I think that puts a lot of what we're dealing with into context.

[1:06:51] Voice 7: I do wish that we would have known at the beginning

[1:06:56] Voice 7: that the genesis of this issue was from bylaw enforcement issues

[1:07:02] Voice 7: and maybe some context around Mr. Dingman's concerns earlier on.

[1:07:08] Voice 7: might have might have helped me sort of um i

[1:07:13] Voice 5: agree with that i think um camas i wrote to you

[1:07:16] Voice 5: um i felt we were suddenly in a different ball game um and that uh it would have increased

[1:07:23] Voice 5: my ability when we made the visit to comprehend uh more clearly what was happening

[1:07:30] Voice 5: so thank you thank you that's been noted yep

[1:07:33] Voice 7: okay very good um then i will um make the motion

[1:07:37] Voice 7: that is in a draft form in our staff report

[1:07:42] Voice 7: that having considered the matter set out

[1:07:44] Voice 7: in section 542.1c of the Local Government Act

[1:07:49] Voice 7: and having found that undue hardship

[1:07:51] Voice 7: would be caused to the applicant

[1:07:54] Voice 7: if section 5311 of the Local Government Act

[1:07:58] Voice 7: is complied with,

[1:07:59] Voice 7: the Galliano Island Board of Variants

[1:08:01] Voice 7: approve application GL-BOV-2025-0162-GOLD as presented and shown on Schedule A of the GL-BOV-2025-0162-GOLD notice of hearing. I so move.

[1:08:24] Voice 7: I will second that.

[1:08:26] Voice 7: Thank you, Dennis. All those in favor then?

[1:08:31] Voice 7: Aye.

[1:08:32] Voice 7: And I see Priscilla's hand, so thank you.

[1:08:35] Voice 7: I think that concludes the hearing then.

[1:08:40] Voice 7: Kim, is there anything further that we need to...

[1:08:43] Voice 10: Can I just raise an issue now that we're finished?

[1:08:46] Voice 10: I didn't want to raise it during the issue, but...

[1:08:49] Voice 10: Do you want

[1:08:50] Voice 7: this recorded, Dennis, because we're still...

[1:08:52] Voice 10: No, not necessarily.

[1:08:52] Voice 10: It's just a subject for us to deal with as a board.

[1:08:55] Voice 10: I hope this does not trigger all sorts of applicants on Wise Island,

[1:09:01] Voice 10: because of this you know i mean if everybody's out of compliance um i don't i hope we don't see

[1:09:07] Voice 10: 20 applications now a

[1:09:10] Voice 7: good point and maybe uh kim i know you're working with the local trust

[1:09:14] Voice 7: committee and maybe you can share that with them that you know we certainly endorse their

[1:09:20] Voice 7: contemplation of considering wise island as a distinct society so to speak thank you um and

[1:09:28] Voice 5: that's not something that i endorse i would like to say okay

[1:09:31] Voice 7: appreciate that um then i will um i

[1:09:36] Voice 7: think the next uh item is adjourning the meeting uh kim anything further then i will uh call for

[1:09:42] Voice 7: an adjournment thank you all thank

[1:09:46] Voice 5: you thank you

[1:09:47] Voice 7: everyone thank you bye

[1:09:48] Voice 5: -bye thank you bye